Modifying Nib For Celluloid Mb146

February 20, 2018

Hello,

I have just bought a restored 1950s MB 146G with M nib from a seller in Germany. It is in lovely condition and writes nicely.

However I think I would prefer a F or EF nib.

The pen is apparently all original. Would it be a shame to change the original nib? Would it affect the value of the pen much?

Would the nib still look just as nice after modification? (I would use someone like Mike it Work)

Alternately I have looked online for a F or EF 1950s nib to swap it out but see none advertised. Are they rare? How much would I expect to pay if I can find one?

Thank you,
Paul Julian
New Zealand

February 20, 2018

The German '50's nibs are 1/2 narrower than now (not of course Japanese skinny) ...so that M nib would be a F or 'fat' F nib today.

That nib should be semi-flex and stubbed as normal.

I don't know how much experience you have with pens....but if you are coming from nails....or semi-nails, you could well be using much too much pressure.....it is normal.

I'd learned to use a fountain pen back in B&W TV days....but spent 40 years with a ball point. After a year back in fountain pens, got a semi-flex OB Pelikan 140, which has a 3 X max vs a light down stroke. It took me some three months to lighten my Hand from being so Ham Fisted, so I wasn't maxing the nib all the time.

It wasn't fat at all....really....I wasn't worried about it, in I'd gone from M to Wide....instead of from M to skinny.

As you get a lighter Hand, you will get that old fashioned fountain pen flair a stubbed semi-flex gives you with out doing anything at all. The start of the first letter of a word will be fatter, perhaps a letter or two in the word and a fancier T crossing.

No, you don't want to 'flex' the pen to make all the letters fat.....semi-flex is not for that....an occasional decender can be learned from a calligraphy book.

If you lucked out and have a maxi-semi-flex....then you can add a few more fancies to your writing...with practice. My 146 is a maxi-semi-flex....and I'd been looking for that in '50's MB in I'd already had an OB....which is a writing nib and not a signature nib of modern days.

With a maxi.....it is much easier to get wider letters, when coming in from nails/rigid .... and you will have much of the same problem when you grind narrow.....+ what ever damage you can do, by pressing too hard on a very narrow nib.

So, first see how lightly you can write with that nib....and if by writing very, very lightly, the nib is not so wide.

If so, it would be a waste ...IMO....to take a narrow M or Fat F nib and make it skinny.

Many go to wider nibs with some more experience. It's a good pen to hold on as is until then.

Any nib grinder can make it a EF or EEF....

Will your hand be any lighter???...You could still spread an EF to M....as "Normal", because of Ham Fistedness.

At EEF....hum....and Heavy Hands....could spring the nib.

It is a medium-large pen with great balance....much 'fat' better IMO than the later '70's to now 146...that I have one of also.

My advice is to think three times about getting the nib ground down.

In MB uses a pine tar glue to keep the feed and nib in place, it is not something for yank a nib like a Chinese pen. ...or others with easy friction fit feeds.

There are folks here who do yank a MB nib and don't worry about having it fit perfectly....near is good enough for them.

PS....It's a stub nib....so you will lose all to most of the effect by making it a EF and all of it by making it an EEF.

In I want a little visible line variation, I only have one EF out of 26 semi-flex pens I own.

Edited February 20, 2018 by Bo Bo Olson

February 20, 2018

Think twice, grind once. Once done, cant be undone, and especially with finer nibs, you lose most if not line variation. I would leave as is, as celluloid MBs keep appreciating, and one in perfect condition is harder to come by.

February 20, 2018

There are two schools of thought regarding your question:

The first will say: "It's your pen so you can do what you want with it". You could even shoot the pen out of a shotgun if you so desired.

The second will say: "Vintage pens (and nibs) are a dwindling resource. If you don't like the nib, better sell the pen and buy another"

I believe in the second school of thought. If you want an EF or F nib maybe you should consider selling that beautiful vintage MB to someone who will truly appreciate a M nib.

Finally, I wouldn't buy a vintage pen if I knew it had been subject to a modern nib grinding.

February 20, 2018

Are you going to keep it? If there is any doubt then leave it be. With a new to you pen trying it "as is" leaves you the most future options. I ahad a celluloid 146 that I loved but eventually sold it as it was just too short for long use. I would not have kown that without trying it for more than a few minutes.

If you are going to keep it for sure, then grind it to the width and flourish you like (stub, italic, architect, etc.) You are not destroying Earth's most precious resource and if it makes you use the pen and love it more then I vote to proceed. Celluloid pens will not last forever. Eventually they shrink, crack, crumble even if left untouched in a drawer. I say to use and enjoy.

Maybe a silly analogy, but you wouldn't stop using your legs for fear of breaking them just by walking around. So buy the shoes that fit your needs and get use out of them.

February 21, 2018

Do post your medium-long 146.....then it will not be 'too short', and have near perfect balance. And it will be longer than a non posted Large pen...like the Large 146.

Always place the cap on the end of the pen carefully.....no hand slaps!!!

Of course I grew up in the era of standard and medium-large pens............the 146 became one of the first Large pens in @1970.

Many of the folks that grew up using Large pens, have a religion that does not allow posting of pens. I can see that for Large pens...though the large 146 posts ok....it just always takes me a minute or two to get use to it....and it is a tad clunkier than the 'real' 146.

If you wax your pen with Carnauba car wax, once every three or four months you will not have to worry about mars.....and mars can be erased with something like Semi-Chrome. But after waxing my pens, I've never had a mar.

Edited February 21, 2018 by Bo Bo Olson